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And third, I think, China. Those seemed to us the three purposes, together with the general impression of condominium.
We did not accept a serious discussion of this proposal. Nor will we.
Ch 'iao: Actually your treaty on preventing nuclear war could be interpreted in this way also.
Kissinger: No, absolutely not.
Teng: Because your consultations know no bounds.
Kissinger: First of all, that treaty has never been invoked. We have used that treaty and intend to use it to get a legal basis for resistance in areas that are not covered by treaty obligations. The only time that treaty has been used was by the U.S. during the October alert.
Secondly, that treaty deliberately says that to prevent nuclear war, one has to avoid conventional war. And, therefore, by the reverse, to resort to conventional war involves the danger of retaliation by nuclear war. The new Soviet proposal separates nuclear war. It makes no distinction about who uses the weapons first, and it is directed at a kind of nuclear condominium.
In the October alert, we warned the Soviet Union that if they used force in the Middle East it would be in violation of Article 2 of the Treaty on Prevention of Nuclear War, which says that the use of conventional weapons implies the risk of nuclear weapons, and we used it as a warning to the Soviet Union.
But I agree with the Foreign Minister that the Soviet intention in their draft to us on the Treaty to Prevent Nuclear War was to achieve what they are now proposing in this new treaty.
Teng: Their goals and purposes have been constant all along.
Kissinger: And their diplomacy clumsy and obvious.
Teng: But their purpose is also very clear. And their goals are clear. And we think their purposes can only be these: First of all, to utilize the signing of such an agreement with you to develop their own nuclear weaponsTOP SECRET/SENSITIVE
